Chapter Review 2/9/2026

 

Greetings honored battle brethren! Once again, I bring you news of the glorious victories of the past weekend! It was a pretty good weekend for the legion chapter. We didn't have any event wins, but one list did go undefeated, and we had a total of six X/0-X/1 results across three different detachments. I'll be reviewing the top list in each of those detachments, and the rest will be in the honorable mentions, along with a couple other players who I think deserve to be noted. 

The top Dark Angels player of the weekend was Sturnguard Fat Tits' Liam Callebout, who went 5-1 and took 9th out of 212 with his Wrath of the Rock list at Beachhead Brawl 2026, held in Bournemouth, England. You can see Liam's list on BCP. We'll check it out below. 

Beachhead
Lion Dad -  Warlord
Azrael
Librarian in Terminator Armour: Deathwing Assault
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon: Tempered in Battle
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Deathwing Knights: 5 awesome chonky macey boys
Desolation Squad: 5 steely-eyed missleman boys
Infiltrator Squad: 5 stay-off-my-lawn boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

This is a pretty conventional Wrath of the Rock list with some interesting innovations. It's got Lion Dad, Azrael leading a unit of Inner Circle Companions, a pair of Deathwing Knight squads, all of which are tough, punchy units that can wreck an opponent's day. He also has the usual utility units: the Combi-Lieutenant, a squad of Scouts, and an Infiltrator Squad that is likely holding his backfield objective. For long-range shooting support he chose a pair of Land Speeders Vengeance, which aren't ideal for engaging tougher gun tanks, but are perfectly capable of popping transports and give the list some Damage 3 attacks.

The more unusual units to see are the Terminator Librarian, the Desolation Squad, and the Darkshroud. Let's start with the Darkshroud. If you're not aware of what it does, it's a Toughness 8 10-Wound model with a 14" move and it generates a 6" aura of Stealth and Benefit of Cover to friendly units. I find it a little bit hard to quantify the benefits of having a Darkshroud in a list, because it doesn't generate kills, it makes it harder for your opponent to kill your units. How much harder is an open question, because not all opponents kill your stuff with shooting, and those that do often have easy access to Ignores Cover, Ignores Modifiers, or To Hit rerolls. But, I suppose if they have to spend resources on those things, they don't get to spend those resources on other things, and in the meantime the Darkshroudis relatively cheap at 100 points, it can score Secondaries because doing actions doesn't interfere with generating its aura, and it can be a handy screening piece.

The Desolation Squad is rather expensive at 200 points for five 2-wound models, but it provides a decent amount of Indirect Fire, which can be very handy for smacking down Infantry staging behind terrain. Something like Howling Banshees with Jain Zar attached or Wyches with Lelith Hesperax attached can command a huge chunk of the table from behind a wall and be a nuisance to get at without Indirect because of Fights First. Also, most players put a pretty weedy unit on their backfield objective, so with the Deso squad's Vengor and Castellan launchers, it becomes possible to pick it up early in the game and force an opponent to devote another resource to holding his backfield objective. The squad's Targeter Optics ability grants them Ignores Cover when they Remain Stationary, which negates part of the protection opponents' units would get from being out of Line of Sight. It's plausible that Desos could be a backfield objective holder and hit an opponent's backfield objective holder. I checked the math with Google's handy Pythagorean theorem calculator. There's about 39 inches between the centers of the homefield objectives in most deployment setups. The Deso Sergeant's Vengor launcher has a 48" range, and the squads's Castellan launchers have a 36" range, so if you stick the sergeant just holding the backfield objectve and the rest of the squad sufficiently in front of him, it should be able to hit an opponent's backfield objective holder no matter how far back they are. The downside is the Deso squad wouldn't be screening its own back corner very well from that position, but it would allow Liam to deploy the Infiltrators further forward if he needed them to speedbump World Eaters or something like that. One more virtue to the Deso squad is that it can also launch a volley of Superkrak missiles, and is the only likely target for the Relics of the Dark Age strat, so it can provide some Strength 12 shooting as needed. 

Dang. I kind of want to play a squad of these guys now.

The final innovation in Liam's list is the Terminator Librarian. We don't frequently play any Terminator characters in our lists because macey boy Deathwing Knights largely don't need them, and there's little reason to play any other Terminator units when we have Deathwing Knights available. The reason to play Terminator characters in a Wrath list is to have someone to hang Deathwing Assault on, so you can have a unit Deep Strike Turn 1. We've seen this on Ancients for the extra OC, and we've seen it on Chaplains because they allow the use of swordy boy Knights with the assurance that they'll be able to punch up into most targets as well as the macey boys, but with more attacks. Most is not all though - there are Toughness 12 units in the game that swordy boys would be wounding on 5's even with a Chaplain attached. The Librarian's Veil of Time ability grants the squad Sustained Hits 1, so you're likely to get the same number of attacks out of the macey boys led by the Librarian as you are out of the swordy boys, and there's the possibility you could spike your rolls and get more, and still have Anti-Big-Thing 4+.  It might be worth putting Oath on whatever you're going to pile them into and fish for 6's. The Librarian also has a pretty decent shooting attack with Smite. Finally, Liam may be using the Librarian as a bit of anti-Daemon tech. According to Stat-check.com, Chaos Daemons are one of the top three armies in the game as of this writing, and most of the army's attacks have the Psychic keyword, so that squad of Knights would get their saves and then 4+ Feel No Pain rolls against most of a Daemon army's offense. Not a bad bit of tech to have in your list. 

Not only did Liam go 5-1, but he also had a 4-0 event start. 1st round he crushed Starshatter Necrons 95-50. 2nd round he scored a comfortable 80-61 against Beastslayer Space Wolves. 3rd round he scored a solid 85-71 against War Horde Orks. 4th round he drubbed Aspect Host Aeldari 100-66. 5th round was an agonizingly close 79-81 loss against Awakend Necrons with all 3 of the named C'Tan.  6th round he avenged his loss with a 75-46 drubbing against another Starshatter Necron list. Well done Liam!

The next-best performing player of the weekend was Alex Spathopoulos of Xenos Petting Zoo, who took his Gladius list to the Dicehammer Open 40k GT IX held in Irvine, CA, went 4-1, and placed 4th out of 75 players. You can see Alex's list on BCP. We'll analyze it below.

Gladius DA
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon: Artificer Armour
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Inner Circle Companions: 6 spooky awesome swordy boys
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Repulsor Executioner
Repulsor Executioner
Scout Squad: 5 sneaky lads

The first thing that jumps out about Alex's list is that it's very shooty. With three Land Speeders Vengeance and two Repulsor Executioners, it's got guns for every occasion. The RepExes are sporting the heavy laser destroyers, so they're providing the shooting for taking down Monsters and Vehicles, plus each one can throw a veritable bucket of dice at chaff. For anything in between, the trio of Vengeances has that lovely Damage 3 Twin-linked Blast. 

Alex pays for all the gun platforms by not having any Deathwing Knights in his list, but he's not bereft of punching units. He's got Lion Dad, Azrael and a unit of Inner Circle Companions, and a pair of Jump Intercessor squads. The Jump Intercessor squads can be sent after opponent's skirmishing units or sent to score Secondaries, while Lion Dad and Azrael's ICCs give opponents something to worry about if they want to close with Alex's gun platforms to punch them to death.

Here's a second list with a Darkshroud! I like Darkshrouds a little better in a list like this, because they kind of firepower opponents need to take down something like a RepEx generally doesn't have a lot of shots, so making one or two of those miss when they should have hit, or making saves against them when they otherwise wouldn't have seems like it would have a much bigger impact in a game.

Alex has the usual Intercessor and Scout Squads. Instead of one Combi-Lieutenant, he has two! He gave one Artificer Armour so he can enjoy having a 2+ save, making him a little harder to pick up. I suspect Alex is using the second Combi-Lieutenant to create a forward spot for Lion Dad to Forest-walk to, creating a little bubble of Lone Op for Lion Dad to land in.

1st round an Ork Green Tide player had the misfortune of pairing into Alex's list, and predictably got smashed 100-51. 2nd round Alex crushed Necron Cursed Legion 99-28. 3rd round Alex took his loss, a close 86-91 against T'au Retaliation Cadre. 4th round Alex scored a comfortable 78-62 against Blades of Ultramar Ultramarines. 5th round Alex wrapped up the event by drubbing Woe Necrons 81-54. Good job Alex!

The third most successful player of the weekend was dumpster fire's Kyle Myers, who in an apparent fit of nostalgia for early 10th took an Ironstorm list to the Green Dice Games Winter Ruin III Warhammer 40K Grand Tournament held in Slatington, PA. Kyle went 4-1 and took 4th place out of 70 players. You can see Kyle's list on BCP. We'll discuss it below.

ENTER LION-MAN
Lion Dad - Warlord
Azrael
Captain in Gravis Armour: The Flesh is Weak
Lieutenant with Combi-weapon
Techmarine: Master of the Machine War
Techmarine: Adept of the Omnissiah
Assault Intercessor Squad: 5 choppy boys
Intercessor Squad: 5 bolter boys
Assault Intercessors with Jump Packs: 5 flying choppy boys
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Land Speeder Vengeance
Ravenwing Darkshroud
Redemptor Dreadnought
Redemptor Dreadnought

Storm Speeder Thunderstrike

Three lists, three Darkshrouds! Here the Darkshroud probably hangs out near the Redemptor Dreadnoughts, because they would benefit the most from the aura of protection. A case might be made for having it hang with the Vengeances however, as you'd want to give yourself a chance to trigger the Power of the Machine Spirit strat for retributive shooting, then maybe get some more from a nearby Vengeance's datasheet ability. There's also the potential to set up retributive shooting by sticking the Assault Intercessor Squad with a Techmarine attached on an objective with a Vengeance next to them but not on the objective. Opponents are apt to try and shoot off the Assault Intercessors, which can trigger the Vengeance, and if things go well the Techmarine survives the death of the squad and gets Lone Op from being next to the Vengeance. If the opponent elects to shoot at the Vengeance instead, then if Kyle sticks the one with Adept of the Omnissiah next to the Vengeance, he can blank the damage of a failed save, which gives him some more ability to set up the use of Power of the Machine Spirit. 

Most of Kyle's shooting is Strength 9 Damage 3, which is a nice profile into a lot of targets, but can struggle into Toughness 10+ targets. To compensate, he's included a Storm Speeder Thunderstrike in his list. The Storm Speeder's own shooting is usually underwhelming, but it does put out three D6+1 Damage shots, which can occasionally spike damage. It's real value is its Thunderstrike ability, giving shooting into a Big Thing +1 To Wound.

A Gravis Captain has made it into Kyle's list as a lone trading piece. He's given it The Flesh Is Weak for a 4+ Feel No Pain. A Gravis Captain with a 4+++ is going to be a real nuisance to remove.

This list has Intercessors and a Combi-Lieutenant for utility work. It lacks the usual Scout Squad, but replaces it with a Jump Intercessor squad.

This list has some punch in the Fight phase too. Redemptors have Damage 3 melee attacks, which will flat out pick up most Infantry with single strikes, and for anything the Redemptors might have difficulty with, he's got Lion Dad to bully. Azrael and the Techmarines aren't be disregarded either. Techmarines actually have about the only Damage 3 melee attacks available to non-named Astartes Infantry with their Servo Arm attacks. 

Kyle had close 75-65 1st round win against Subterreanean Tyranids. 2nd round he drubbed Invasion Fleet Nids 99-77.  3rd round he crushed Pactbound Chaos Marines 100-55. 4th round he manhandled Grizzletarum 83-60. He took his loss in the 5th round, a close 76-83 against Mont'ka T'au. Not only did Kyle go 4-1, but he also had a 4-0 event start. Way to go Kyle!

Honorable Mentions

Jay Seebarun of Sturnguard Fat-Tits and Marko Precanin of Kingston Crusaders both went 5-1 at Beachhead Brawl 2026 with Wrath of the Rock lists, taking 14th and 15th places respectively. Here's Jay's list and Marko's list.

Brian Zebley had an undefeated run, going 4-0-1 at Gaming Expo 40k Open and took 2nd out of 29 players. He ran a Wrath of the Rock list. 

Oliver Stubbs went 4-2 and took 27th place at Beachhead Brawl 2026 with his Gladius Task Force list. 

Finally, I'd like to recognize a true lover of the game. You may think you love 40K. I think I love 40K. However, I don't think anybody loves 40K as much as James Graham-Smith. Homie attended both Cat Hammer and Beachhead Brawl 2026 and played 11 games in four days! It appears he played all his games too. I don't know how he pulled that off, because Cat Hammer ended on February 6th and Beachhead began on February 6th, but that total legend among us did it. He played the same Company of Hunters list at both events, which is how I wound up noticing his endurance run. He did okay too, going 5-5-1 for a perfectly balanced 50% win rate for his long weekend of 40K. James, you sir are hardcore!

Statistics

It was a pretty good weekend for our army. We had 32 players who played 167 games and won 86 of them, scoring a 52% win rate. We didn't have any event wins, but 6 X/0-X/1 results is nothing to sneeze at. 

The most played detachment of the weekend was Wrath of the Rock, with 20 players who brought in a 50% win rate and 4 of the X-results. Three of the X-results were from players at one event, Beachhead Brawl 2026.

The next most played detachment was the Gladius, with 6 players, scoring a 65% win rate, the highest win rate of the detachments played over the weekend. One X-result list was a Gladius.

Three players played the Company of Hunters, but those players didn't fare a well as the players in previous weeks, scoring only a 43% win rate.

Two players played the Ironstorm Spearhead, scoring a 64% win rate and bringing in the last X-result.

One player played a Stormlance, scoring only a 40% win rate. 

That, honored battle brethren, is what I have for you this week. Be sure to check out Dank List Wargaming and Black Crow Gaming on YouTube for Dark Angels content created by real enthusiasts for the legion chapter. It's good to be back! I'm looking forward to a new year, both for putting my skills to the test and bringing you the news of our beloved army. As always, I hope you find my work enjoyable and informative. May we all strive ever for glorious victory! For The Lion!